Plate or tube type heat exchangers have been produced in the past which are made up of a plurality of stacked, hollow plate pairs or tubes for the flow of one fluid therethrough. The plate pairs or tubes often have end bosses located at opposed ends to form common flow manifolds for feeding fluid through the plate pairs or tubes. The plate pairs or tubes also allow for the transverse flow of another fluid, such as air, between the plate pairs or tubes, and cooling fins are often located in between the plate pairs or tubes to enhance the heat transfer co-efficient of the heat exchanger.
It is sometimes desirable to be able to force the fluid to flow along a predetermined path or circuit using a preselected combination or order of flow amongst the plate pairs or tubes. It is also desirable sometimes to divide the stack of plate pairs or tubes into separate modules, each having its own inlet and outlet, so that there is, in effect, multiple heat exchangers or modules in one unitary structure.
One way of accomplishing these desired results in the past has been to use special or unique plates or tubes for some of the plate pairs or tubes, where the end bosses in the special plates or tubes are closed. Another way is to use special blank plates between or inside some of the plate pairs or tubes. A difficulty with these methods, besides causing inefficient flow obstructions, is that several unique or odd-shaped components are necessary which make it difficult to assemble the heat exchangers and result in many errors being made by positioning the wrong components in the wrong locations. The result is many defective or inoperative heat exchangers being produced.
The present invention eliminates the need for special plates or tubes and unwanted flow obstructions yet easily accommodates different flow circuit configurations by using a simple baffle inserted between the plate or tube end bosses prior to brazing the heat exchanger.